Siberia <<sy BIHR ee uh>> is an enormous, thinly populated area in northern Asia. It lies inside Russia. Ice and snow cowl a lot of the area about six months a yr, and the temperature typically drops under –ninety °F (–sixty eight °C).

Individuals have lived in Siberia for a lot of hundreds of years. Asian nomads referred to as Tatars, beneath the Mongolian emperor Genghis Khan, conquered southern areas of Siberia through the early 1200’s. They drove most of the unique tribes into the northern forests. Within the late 1500’s, a band of Russian Cossacks defeated the Tatars. Russian fur merchants reached the Pacific coast about 1630. By 1700, the Russians managed virtually all of Siberia.

Small crops and shrubs develop within the tundra, a slender belt of vegetation alongside Siberia’s Arctic coast. South of the tundra lies an enormous evergreen forest.Arctic foxes, lemmings, and reindeer stay within the tundra; and ermines, lynxes, pink foxes, and sables make their residence within the forests. Fishing crews catch cod, crabs, and salmon off the Pacific coast.